2nd Body Recovered in Brooklyn Explosion Identified as Missing Woman

The medical examiner's office has identified the second body recovered from the Brooklyn explosion as Francisca Figueroa, the woman who had been missing since the blast.

Figueroa, 48, lived in the apartment where investigators suspect the explosion originated. Another woman who lived on the third floor of the building, 64-year-old Ligia Puello, was killed in the explosion. 

FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said the department is looking at "many different possible causes" of the explosion at 42nd Street and 13th Avenue in Borough Park Saturday that killed at least one woman and injured 13 others. 

"There may have been another cause -- not gas," he said. "Could it have been some form of liquid? Yes." 

It's not clear what type of liquid may have fueled the fire.

Figueroa spoke with her sister on the phone just before the explosion, sources said, leading police to believe she was inside her apartment at the time. 

Figueroa owned a Brooklyn hair salon on 5th Avenue, where a memorial continued to grow Wednesday. Sources said she was heavily in debt and sent suicidal text messages and on social media, including telling her children to "be good" and "take care of themselves."

Friends said the idea that Figueroa would set a deadly fire on purpose doesn't make sense.

Authorities initially thought gas may have caused the blast, which blew off the front of the building, after the removal of a stove.

But officials have since said that the gas was not on in Figueroa's apartment, so investigators were exploring the possibility that there was another accelerant inside. Sources said investigators were examining floorboards for traces of residue or chemicals. 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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